This small map is credited to engraver W.P. Harrison and F. von Leicht. It appears on the back inside cover of the March 1881 issue of The Californian, a San Francisco-based literary magazine published in monthly installments from 1880-82. It covers the region from San Bernadino and Riverside west to Santa Monica and Newport Beach, with shading identifying the “Stearns Ranchos” in Orange County. Text at bottom offers land for sale. Abel Stearns was an early Los Angeles entrepreneur who became the most prominent land owner in Southern California. Following his death in 1871, his properties were sold and divided into small farms. Among the articles of note in the 95-page (plus advertisements) magazine are an article on canals through Panama and Nicaragua, with two small accompanying maps (4.5 x 1.8") showing proposed routes; a column on whether New York is superceding Boston as America's premiere literary city by William Sloane Kennedy (a friend of Walt Whitman's); and a report of an San Francisco exhibition of Thomas Hill's painting "The Last Spike."

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Condition: B+

The map itself is a sharp impression with marginal foxing and a chipped corner, well away from map image. Covers are lightly stained and are starting to separate but have been reinforced with archival tape along the spine. Text is very good with some minor foxing in the margins.